Players Win Case Against Asian Tour, Allowing Competition In OneAsia

Four professional golfers "forced the Asian Tour to pay back fines and legal costs and let them play on the rival OneAsia circuit after winning a lengthy court battle on Tuesday," according to the AFP. The players -- Australia's Terry Pilkadaris and Matthew Griffin, Manila-based Dutchman Guido van der Valk and Malaysia's Anis Hassan -- "emerged victorious after a year-long restraint of trade case at the Singapore High Court." Legal action was launched after the players were fined and barred from Asian Tour events for playing OneAsia tournaments in '10. The players' lawyer Christopher Daniel said, "The judge declared that all of those rules which allowed the Asian Tour to prohibit its players from playing on other tournaments... were restraint of trade and therefore null and void." The case "highlighted a major point of contention between the Asian Tour and OneAsia," which launched in '09, sparking what has been called the region's "golf war." Pilkadaris said he was "delighted" with the ruling, adding it was "simply unfair" that the Asian Tour barred players from OneAsia events even when the circuits' schedules were not in direct conflict (AFP, 11/27).